Abstract
A large percentage of the building stock in India and around the world comprises of non-engineered unreinforced masonry (URM) structures. The performance of these buildings in the past has shown that they are highly vulnerable to failure under seismic loads. Very few studies in the past have focused on behaviour of URM structures made of bricks with low strength and stiffness. Hence, the main objective of this study is to improve the understanding of brick masonry made of low strength and low stiffness bricks and assess the effectiveness of various strengthening schemes namely glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) composites and textile reinforced mortar (TRM) systems. The scope of the study includes the following: (i) experimentally characterising the mechanical properties including stress strain curves for bricks, mortar and prisms cast with various mortar composition under pure compression and (ii) to experimentally assess the performance of masonry assemblies such as prisms and triplets strengthened with GFRP and TRM composites. TRM strengthening involves external application of poly-propylene (PP) grid as reinforcement using cement mortar layers as a matrix. GFRP strengthening is found to increase the strength, stiffness and deformational capacity of masonry prisms made with all grades of mortar. TRM strengthening using PP grid increased the strength, stiffness and deformational capacity of prisms made of low strength mortar but resulted in premature failure in prisms made of high mortar strength. In case of shear triplets, both the GFRP and TRM strengthening increased the strength and stiffness.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Albert ML, Elwi AE, Cheng JR (2001) Strengthening of unreinforced masonry walls using FRPs. J Compos Constr 5(2):76–84
Andreaus U, Ceradini G (1992) Failure modes of solid brick masonry under in-plane loading. Mason Int 6(1):4–8
Aranha AC, Ernest BM, Lluis GE, Christian EP (2013) Feasibility study of strengthening unreinforced masonry structures with shotcrete and textile. In: Proceedings of international conference on rehabilitation and restoration of structures, IITM
BS 2782-10: Method 1006 (1996) Methods of testing plastics, glass reinforced plastics: determination of tensile properties
Corradi M, Borri A, Vignoli A (2008) Experimental evaluation of in-plane shear behavior of masonry walls strengthened using conventional and innovative methods. Mason Int 21(1):29
Drysdale RG, Hamid AA (2008) Masonry structures: behaviour and design. Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) (1999) Evaluation of earthquake damaged concrete and masonry wall buildings, basic procedures manual. ATC-43, FEMA 306, Applied Technology Council, Calif
Gumaste KS, Rao KN, Reddy BV, Jagadish KS (2007) Strength and elasticity of brick masonry prisms and Wallettes under compression. Mater Struct 40(2):241–253
Hamid AA, El-Dakhakhni WW, Hakam ZH, Elgaaly M (2005) Behavior of composite unreinforced masonry–fiber-reinforced polymer wall assemblages under in-plane loading. J Compos Constr 9(1):73–83
IS 3495 (Part-1) (1992) Methods of test on burnt clay building bricks, Bureau of Indian Standards, New Delhi, India
IS 5816 (1999) Splitting tensile strength of concrete method of test, Bureau of Indian Standards, New Delhi, India
IS: 1905 (1987) Code of practice for structural use of unreinforced masonry. Bureau of Indian Standards, New Delhi, India
IS: 2116 (1980) Specification for sand for masonry mortars, Bureau of Indian Standards, New Delhi, India
IS: 8112 (1989) Specification for 43 grade ordinary Portland cement, Bureau of Indian Standards, New Delhi, India
Kaushik HB, Rai DC, Jain SK (2007) Stress–strain characteristics of clay brick masonry under uniaxial compression. J Mater Civ Eng 19(9):728–739
McNary WS, Abrams DP (1985) Mechanics of masonry in compression. J Struct Eng (ASCE) 111(4):857–870
Mohamad G, Lourenço PB, Roman HR (2005) Mechanical behaviour assessment of concrete block masonry prisms under compression. In: Proceedings of international conference on concrete for structures (INCOS 05), Coimbra, p 261
Papanicolaou CG, Triantafillou TC, Papathanasiou M, Karlos K (2008) Textile reinforced mortar (TRM) versus FRP as strengthening material of URM walls: out-of-plane cyclic loading. Mater Struct 41(1):143–157
Prota A, Marcari G, Fabbrocino G, Manfredi G, Aldea C (2006) Experimental in-plane behavior of tuff masonry strengthened with cementitious matrix–grid composites. J Compos Constr 10(3):223–233
Reddy BV, Vyas CVU (2008) Influence of shear bond strength on compressive strength and stress–strain characteristics of masonry. Mater Struct 41(10):1697–1712
Sarangapani G, Venkatarama Reddy BV, Jagadish KS (2005) Brick-mortar bond and masonry compressive strength. J Mater Civ Eng 17(2):229–237
Stratford T, Pascale G, Manfroni O, Bonfiglioli B (2004) Shear strengthening masonry panels with sheet glass-fiber reinforced polymer. J Compos Constr 8(5):434–443
Triantafillou TC, Papanicolaou CG (2006) Shear strengthening of reinforced concrete members with textile reinforced mortar (TRM) jackets. Mater Struct 39(1):93–103
Acknowledgments
This experimental work is carried out as part of the project funded through Young-Scientist scheme by Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) of Department of Science and Technology, India. Their financial support is gratefully acknowledged. The authors would also like to thank all the staff of Structural Engineering Laboratory, IIT Hyderabad for their help towards construction and testing of specimens.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Prakash, S.S., Aqhtarudin, M. & Dhara, J.S. Behaviour of soft brick masonry small assemblies with and without strengthening under compression loading. Mater Struct 49, 2919–2934 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1617/s11527-015-0695-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1617/s11527-015-0695-2